Arkansas' Isaiah Joe launched freely in a battle of the SEC's two most prolific 3-point shooters, himself and Brown. Joe scored 14 points and made 4 of 14 3s.

"We know they're a terrific 3-point shooting team," Razorbacks coach Mike Anderson said. "They made 17 tonight. Our defense didn't do a good job of getting out there and finding their shooters.

"We know when they go on a run, they can really go off and they did tonight. And we couldn't make any shots."

The Razorbacks shot just 32.8 percent overall and were 4 of 26 from 3-point range.

Daniel Gafford had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Razorbacks, but one miss summed up how things went.

"He had a wide-open dunk and he misses the dunk," Anderson said. "That's the kind of night it was."

BIG PICTURE

Arkansas: Never rebounded from a cold start when the team needed more than 7 minutes to make a basket. Also gave up a 23-1 run to Mississippi State in the last game. Mason Jones scored four points, 10 below his season average.

Auburn: Showed how dangerous the team can be when the 3-pointers are falling from a variety of shooters. Made a nice entry into the NCAA Tournament resume with a tough closing stretch looming.

"I looked at this game as kind of a game we had to have," Pearl said.

MALIK STARTS

Malik Dunbar scored eight points for Auburn, all in the opening six minutes, in his first start of the season and fourth of his career. Samir Doughty was limited by a foot injury.

"I just tried to worry about defense," Dunbar said.

UP NEXT

Arkansas goes for a season sweep of Texas A&M at home Saturday night.

Auburn visits No. 4 Kentucky Saturday in a rematch of a game the Wildcats won 82-80 on Jan. 19.